La Junta PD faces lawsuit after officers’ actions allegedly caused man’s paralysis

An aspiring MMA fighter from La Junta, who claims he was paralyzed after being arrested by the La Junta Police Department, has filed a lawsuit against the department and the arresting officer in the case.

It comes the same day as The Denver Post obtained body camera video from that event. It shows Donovan Duran hitting his back on the pavement outside the hospital after police officers got him out of the back of the car while handcuffed.

“The video shows how unjustly they did me that night,” Duran said. “I couldn’t finish it. It was too hard. Too much for me.”

The suit claims excessive force and brutality by officers of the department.

This stems from the arrest of Donovan Duran, who was visibly intoxicated at the time and claims during the arrest that he was slammed to the ground, damaging his spinal cord. That injury resulted in his current paralysis.

“Instead of walking I’d be running, I was a very active guy,” he said. “My breast line down… I feel nothing. I have feeling sometimes, but I have no control over moving.”

Court documents say law enforcement were first called onDec. 5, 2015 after Duran called 911 several times reporting someone was trying to enter his grandfather’s home and that people were trying to kill him.

At his request, an Otero County sheriff’s deputy transported him to Rocky Ford and police there took him to his brother’s home.

While officers said he had been mouthing off and believed him to be under the influence of alcohol, they said Duran was for the most part cooperative.

Later that night, La Junta police received a call from Duran’s sister. The responding team knew Duran and believed he had issues with alcohol in the past and was “acting paranoid.” Duran volunteered to be taken to the hospital by ambulance and was admitted.

According to the suit, Duran later left the hospital without authorization and was contacted by police.

Two days later, La Junta police officers responded to a call from Duran’s father’s house. His father told police when they arrived that he was “wigging out.”

Duran disappeared from the house, and while returning to police headquarters, an officer found him standing in front of a truck at the intersection of 4th and Lewis with his arms extended.

Officers arrested him at the scene and took him to the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center for treatment. En route, officers reported Duran began biting or chewing a Tupperware container that was in the patrol car. He was also reported shouting obscenities and yelling “that’s not fair.”

When they arrived at the hospital, Duran’s attorneys said that while getting him out of the car, Duran moved his handcuffed hands from behind his back to below his knees. Officer said they reached in, grabbed him and rolled him to the ground, causing Duran to land head first into the pavement. Officers then dragged him to the curb and placed him in a crouched position with his head still on the sidewalk until they had him in a wheelchair and took him inside.

The suit claims the arresting officer admittedly did not tell personnel at the hospital that Duran suffered a head injury.

Duran, later recalling the incident, said he had been slammed to the ground and that an officer put a knee into Duran’s back and a forearm into the back of his neck.

In a medical testimony released in a report from a grand jury, doctors state those actions resulted in a spinal fracture that left Duran paralyzed from mid-chest down, with Duran only partially able to use his arms. Further, when Duran hit the ground his C6 and C7 vertebrae were crushed and that when they came back together, the move crushed his spinal cord.

“An officer of the La Junta Police Department utilizied excessive force in dealing with the situation,” said Mike McDivitt, Duran’s attorney.

Among other points, the suit is asking for compensation of medical expenses, punitive damages and other relief as a six-person jury finds appropriate.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 has contacted the Police Department and the City of La Junta for comment but neither said they were able to issue a statement.